THE 

BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY 

of the 

UNITED STATES DEPART- 
MENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ORGANIZATION 

ENFORCEMENT OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACT 

ENFORCEMENT OF TEA ACT 

RESEARCH WORK 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 137 



Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry 
C. L. ALSBERG. Chief 



Washington. D. C. December, 1920 






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ORGANIZATJON OF THE BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



Thief: 

Carl L. Alsberg. 
Assistant Chief: 

W. G. Campbell. 
Assistant to the Chief: 

F. B. Linton. 
Administrative Assistan 

S. A. Postle. 
Librarian: 

Louise Duvall. 
Editor: 

Katharine A. Smith. 



i Drug Administration: 

M. W. Glover, in charge. 

Office of Cooperation: 

T. F. Pappe, acting in charge. 

Office of Development Wor\: 
D. J. Price, in charge. 

Office of Imports: 

A. E. Taylor, in charge. 

Tea Inspection Service: 
G. F. Mitchell, in charge. 



LABORATORIES IN WASHINGTON. 



Analytical Reagent Investigations: 

G. C. Spencer, acting in charge. 
Animal Physiological Chemical: 

F. C. Weber, in charge. 
Carbohydrate: 

H. S. Paine, in charge. 
Color Certification: 

W. H. Mathewson, in charge. 
Color Investigations: 

C. O. Johns, in charge. 
Commercial Dehydration: 

C. E. Mangels, in charge. 
Drug Investigations: 

L. F. Kebler, in charge. 
Food Control: 

I. K. Phelps, in charge. 
Food Investigation: 

R. W. Balcom, in charge. 
Fruit and Vegetable Utilization: 

H. C. Gore, in charge. 
Leather and Paper: 

F. P. Veitch, in charge. 
Microbiological: 

Charles Thorn, in charge. 



Microchemical: 

B. J. Howard, in charge. 
Miscellaneous Division: 

J. K. Haywood, in charge. 
Cattle Food: 

G. L. Bidwell, in charge. 
Insecticide and Fungicide: 
C. C. McDonnell, in 
charge. 
Oil, Fat, and Wax: 

G. S. Jamieson, in charge. 
Pharmacognosy: 

A. Viehoever, in charge. 
Pharmacological: 

E. W. Schwartze, acting in 
charge. 

Phylochzmical: 

F. B. Power, in charge. 
Protein Investigations: 

C. O. Johns, in charge. 
Water and Beverage: 

W. W. Skinner, in charge. 



FIELD INVESTIGATIONAL LABORATORIES. 

I Food Research: 

H. A. McAIeer, in charge. 

3 



Citrus By-Products: 

E. M. Chace, in charge. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE BUREAU. 



FIELD REGULATORY SERVICE. 

Eastern Food and Drug Inspection District (W. R. M. Wharton, 
chief), with food and drug inspection stations in — 



Baltimore: 

D. M. Walsh, chief. 
Boston: 

G. H. Adams, chief. 
Buffalo: 

H. H. Wagner, chief. 
New York: 

H. W. Redfield, chief. 



Philadelphia: 

A. Stengel, chief. 

San Juan: 

W. J. McGee, chief. 

Savannah: 

J. O. Clarke, chief. 



Central Food and Drug Inspection District (R. E. Doolittle, chief), 
with food and drug inspection stations in — 

New Orleans: 



Chicago: 

G. W. Hoover, chief. 
Cincinnati: 

L. B. Forst, chief. 
Minneapolis: 

H. H. Walters, chief. 



R. S. Hollingshead, chief. 

St. Louis: 

E. R. Smith, chief. 



Western Food and Drug Inspection District (R. W. Hilts, chief), with 
food and drug inspection stations in — 



Denver: 

G. J. Morton, chief. 
San Francisco: 

W. Vincent, chief. 



Seattle: 

A. W. Hansen, chief. 



THE FEDERAL 
BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



GROWTH. 



The Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has grown from a small division, or- 
ganized in 1 862, with a staff of four or five men, to a 
bureau employing more than 300 chemists, bacteriologists, 
microscopists, engineers, and inspectors, granted an annual 
appropriation of over $1 ,250,000 for the enforcement of 
the Food and Drugs Act and the Tea Act and for re- 
search work of practical value to the country. 

FUNCTION. 

The function of the Bureau of Chemistry is twofold. 
In the first place it enforces the provisions of the Food and 
Drugs Act, popularly known as the " Pure Food Law," 
passed in 1 906, and of the Tea Act. At the same time 
it conducts investigations arising in connection with its 
regulatory or law-enforcement work, and continues to 
serve the purpose for which it was originally established, 
the study of chemical problems pertaining to agriculture, 
as well as those of the industries utilizing agricultural 
products. 

ORGANIZATION. 

At the head of the organization are the Chief and the 
Assistant Chief of the Bureau, who are responsible for 
the administration of the Food and Drugs Act and the 
Tea Act, and exercise general supervision over the re- 
search work. Twenty-four laboratories and three offices 
in Washington develop facts upon which the decisions 
and policies of the Bureau are based, recommend methods 
for attacking regulatory problems, and conduct scientific 
investigations. 



6 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 

For administrative purposes in the enforcement of the 
Food and Drugs Act, the country has been divided (fig. 2) 
into three inspection districts — the Eastern, with head- 
quarters in New York, the Central, with headquar- 
ters in Chicago, and the Western, with headquarters 
in San Francisco. These districts are further sub- 
divided into inspection territories, with a station, pro- 
vided with a force of chemists and inspectors, at an 
important trade center and port of entry within each 
territory, as shown in the map (fig. 2). While the 
work of the stations is for the most part regulatory, some 
time is devoted to the solution of research problems which 
come to the attention of the chemists in the course of their 
enforcement of the law. 

REGULATORY WORK. 

By far the greater part of the activities and funds of the 
Bureau are devoted to the enforcement of the Food and 
Drugs Act. This act forbids the importation, the ship- 
ment in interstate or foreign commerce, or the manu- 
facture and sale in any Territory or the District of Columbia 
of adulterated or misbranded foods or drugs. 1 Thus it 
serves to protect the public health from injurious foods 
and the public pocketbook from falsely or fraudulently 
labeled foods and drugs, and to promote fair trade by 
guarding the honest manufacturer against unfair com- 
petition with misbranded or spurious articles sold under 
the guise of higher-priced commodities. 

DOMESTIC FOODS. 

In the law, the term "food" is not confined to those 
products which are commonly recognized as food for 
mankind, but includes also beverages (such as soft drinks 
and mineral water), confectionery, condiments, feeds for 
horses, cattle, and poultry, and substances like baking 
powder which enter into the preparation of foods. Nor 

1 The lex t o( the Food and Drugs Ac t, and the rules and regulations (or its enforce- 
ment.are printed in Circular 21 . Office of the Secretary, U. S. Departmentot Agri- 
culture. 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 7 

does the law restrict the application of the term "adul- 
terated" to foods containing an added poisonous or 
deleterious substance, such as milk preserved with formal- 
dehyde, which might prove harmful to the consumer. 
Within the law, "adulterated" has a far wider signifi- 
cance, being applied as well to the following kinds of 
foodstuffs: (1) Those which are made wholly or in part 
from filthy or decomposed material, as in the case of 
catsup made from rotten tomatoes, or milk containing an 
excessive number of bacteria; (2) those which have been 
cheapened by the substitution in whole or in part of some 
less valuable material or one possessing no food value 
whatsoever, such as an article sold as coffee in which the 
coffee has been replaced wholly or partially by chicory, 
or cottonseed meal containing an excessive amount 
of cottonseed hulls; (3) those of an inferior grade made 
to simulate goods of better quality, for example, acetic 
acid which has been colored to look like cider vinegar; 
and (4) those from which certain valuable component 
parts have been removed, as skim milk offered for sale 
as whole milk. 

Under the Federal Food and Drugs Act many cases are 
brought against manufacturers and shippers who violate 
the misbranding clauses of the law. Misbranding of food, 
which may be defined as the use of an untruthful or mis- 
leading label, includes the sin of omission as well as the 
sin of commission. Labeling a bottle of cottonseed oil 
"Olive Oil" is a typical sin of commission, while the 
manufacturer who fails to declare the weight of food in 
package form is guilty of the sin of omission. Shading 
from one of these types of violation to the other are many 
forms of misbranding. 

Often labels are worded in strict accordance with the 
facts, but have the type so arranged or pictorial represen- 
tations so employed that the purchaser receives an 
entirely erroneous impression as to the contents of the 
package. Deceptive labeling of this kind is considered 
to be in violation of the act. 



8 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 

Another all too common deception against the con- 
suming public is food of short weight sold in package 
form. Prints of butter weighing from 14 to 15 ounces, 
but bearing no statement to indicate that they fall short of 
one pound, are representative of this type of fraud. The 
Bureau protects the purchaser against such practices by 
enforcing that section of the law which provides that a 
food shall be judged misbranded, "if in package form, 
the quantity of the contents be not plainly and con- 
spicuously marked on the outside of the package in terms 
of weight, measure, or numerical count." 

DOMESTIC DRUGS. 

To secure the desired effect, it is imperative that all 
drugs used or prescribed by a physician shall be what he 
has every right to expect them to be, judging by their 
labels. If they are under or over the accepted standards, 
the Food and Drugs Act demands that their labels shall 
so specify. 

In addition, the Food and Drugs Act covers medicines 
that are advertised and sold directly to the general public, 
the so-called "patent medicines.' Under the law the 
presence in a preparation, and the amount in which they 
occur, of certain dangerous or habit-forming substances, 
enumerated in the act, must be made known upon the label. 
With this information at hand, the purchaser, of course, 
may exercise his own discretion in administering the 
product. 

It is the duty of the Bureau of Chemistry also to see that 
labels on "patent medicines" hold out to the public no 
promise of benefit that is not fully justified by the compo- 
sition of the preparation. As a standard for the determi- 
nation of such questions, the Bureau has adopted the 
general consensus of opinion among the medical profes- 
sion as to the usefulness and limitations of the various 
drugs. The labeling of medicinal preparations is judged 
not by the presence or absence of such terms as "remedy,' 
''cure," and "treatment," but by the names of diseases and 
the impression conveyed by the wording to the average 
purchaser. 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



IMPORTED FOODS AND DRUGS. 

Many food products, medicinal herbs, which for one 
reason or another can not be grown profitably in this 
country, and "patent medicines" are constantly being 
offered for importation into the United States. These are 
denied entry if they fail to conform to the general require- 
ments of the Food and Drugs Act, are not in accord with 
the laws of the country of origin, or are otherwise dangerous 
to the health of the people of the United States. When 
circumstances warrant, relabeling or reconditioning of the 
goods may be allowed. If thereby a product meeting the 
requirements of the act is obtained, the goods are then per- 
mitted entry. The field stations maintained by the Bureau 
at certain ports of entry, as New York, Boston, New 
Orleans, and San Francisco (fig. 2), examine and analyze 
samples of shipments offered for entry into the United 
States which are suspected of being in violation of the 
Food and Drugs Act. 

PROCEDURE. 

Anyone found guilty, after trial in the Federal courts, of 
violating the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, or 
who pleads guilty to such an offense, is subject to a fine, 
and, under certain circumstances, to imprisonment. 
The evidence necessary to prove a producer or ship- 
per guilty is gathered and presented at the trial by the 
Bureau of Chemistry, through the Department of 
Justice. Sometimes the cooperation of State and city 
health, food, drug, and feeding stuffs officials is enlisted. 
Figure 1 shows each essential step in the development of 
a case as it progresses through the organization units of 
the Bureau of Chemistry and the Office of the Solicitor of 
the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Jus- 
tice, and the courts. 

An inspector of the Bureau (1) collects samples of a 
product suspected of being in violation of the act, and for- 
wards them to the proper station for analysis. At the 
station an analysis is made (2) the results of which are sent 
by the station chief, with his recommendation as to the 

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proper action to be adopted, to his district chief (3). If 
the district chief approves the stations recommendation 
(4), he instructs the station (5) to cite the manufacturer or 
shipper of the product in question to a hearing at the sta- 
tion headquarters, and at the same time submits a state- 
ment of the action taken to the chief of the Bureau in 
Washington. On the date set, the person cited reports for 
an oral hearing (6), or presents in writing his statement as 
to why the Government should not take further action. 

After the hearing, the station chief prepares a summary 
of the findings which he forwards to the district chief, to- 
gether with his recommendation as to the proper action to 
be taken (7). The district chief may indorse the recom- 
mendation as it stands or modify it (8), after which he 
sends all the papers in the case, accompanied by a state- 
ment of what he considers appropriate action, to the chief 
of the Bureau. The chief or assistant chief of the Bureau 
may then decide upon the next step, or may refer the 
matter (10) to the laboratory or office in Washington 
specializing in the product involved. If the specialist 
agrees with the recommendation of the district chief that 
prosecution proceedings should be instituted, the case is 
transmitted to the chief or assistant chief of the Bureau, 
with an indorsement of the recommendation for prose- 
cution. 

The case is then considered in the office of the chief and 
assistant chief (1 1), after which, if these officials concur 
in the recommendation made, it is sent to the Solicitor of 
the Department of Agriculture (12) to be examined as to 
its legal aspects. The Solicitor decides (13) who is liable 
in connection with the alleged violation, and determines 
whether or not the evidence at hand is sufficient to support 
prosecution. If he disagrees with the recommendation of 
the Bureau, he returns the papers to the Bureau for further 
consideration. If, however, he concurs in the Bureau's 
recommendation for prosecution ( 1 4), by authority of the 
Secretary of Agriculture, he prepares the papers necessary 
to be transmitted to the Department of Justice (15), where 
the case is next sent (16) for final transmittal to the district 
attorney who will try the case. 



12 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



The district attorney ( I 7) files the information or presents 
the case to the grand jury for indictment of the producer 
or shipper, and conducts the necessary legal proceed- 
ings ( 1 8). The court hears the case ( 1 9), with or without 
a jury, and renders judgment (20), imposing a sentence 
where the verdict is "guilty.'' Members of the Bureau of 
Chemistry often are summoned to serve as witnesses at 
such trials. After the termination of the case in court, a 
notice of judgment, giving the essential facts, is prepared 



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FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



13 



by the Solicitor (21 ), and later published by the Bureau. 
This terminates the case, and the records are closed (22). 
Two forms of legal action may be instituted in the cor- 
rection of violations of the Food and Drugs Act involving 
the shipment of domestic products. Sometimes a criminal 
prosecution is brought against the alleged offender. 
Again, goods which are being shipped contrary to the 
provisions of the law are seized under order of the court 
and removed from the channels of trade until a decision 



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14 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 



as to what disposition should be made of them has been 
reached by the court. The Bureau officials base their 
decisions as to the type of action to be instituted upon the 
conditions connected with each case. 

The procedure in connection with the enforcement of 
that section of the law relating to foods and drugs offered 
for importation into this country does not involve court 
action. The officials of the Division of Customs, of the 
Treasury Department, cooperate in this phase of the 
Bureau's regulatory work. 

All foreign merchants are required to certify to certain 
facts concerning the foods and drugs which they desire to 
ship, before the proper United States consular officials. 
These certificates are attached to the invoices of the 
various products, and the Bureau of Chemistry inspectors 
are allowed to scrutinize all invoices of foods and drugs 
coming into this country. If an examination of the in- 
voices and their accompanying certificates indicates that 
an article does not comply with the terms of the law, 
samples of it are taken for analysis, the entire shipment 
being held until the results of the examination are known. 
When goods are found to be in violation of the act, the 
importer is so informed, and an opportunity is given him 
to present to the Government his evidence as to why his 
product should not be denied entry. If the results of the 
hearing fail to convince the Bureau that the goods are 
in compliance with the law, a report is submitted to 
the collector of customs at the port of entry, who 
then refuses to admit the product in question into this 
country. If the importer is not satisfied with the action 
of the Bureau he may appeal to the Secretary of Agri- 
culture. When, however, the case proves to be one 
of misbranding only, the articles usually may be brought 
in after the labels have been corrected. Another ex- 
ception is made in the case of importers who, through 
no fault of their own, receive shipments of foods or drugs 
which are adulterated or misbranded, but not grossly. It 
is customary to release such goods after they have been 
relabeled, sorted, and cleaned, or denatured, provided an 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 15 

article which fulfills the requirements of the law can thus 
be obtained. This privilege, of course, is not extended to 
persons who have abused it in the past or have requested 
it repeatedly. 

COOPERATION WITH STATES AND CITIES. 

Under the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, the 
Bureau of Chemistry can exercise supervision only over 
foods and drugs entering interstate or foreign commerce, 
or made, sold, or offered for sale in the District of Co- 
lumbia or the Territories of the United States. It has 
no power over those products which are made and sold 
within the confines of a single State. Most of the States, 
however, have food and drug laws similar in many re- 
spects to the Federal act, and designed to afford the same 
protection to the several States as the Federal act does 
to the nation at large. It is most desirable that the State 
and Federal officials charged with the enforcement of 
public health laws work together in harmony. To that 
end, the office of cooperation in the Bureau of Chemistry 
keeps the State food, drug, and feeding stuffs officials 
informed on matters pertaining to the administration of 
food and drug laws, both State and Federal, and pro- 
vides a practical and effective system of cooperation 
among such officials. In this way the Bureau keeps in 
touch with 50 departments, including those in practically 
every State of the Union, the District of Columbia, 
Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. It 
provides them with information on matters of general 
interest relating to the administration of the Federal 
Food and Drugs Act, and secures their opinions on im- 
portant questions under consideration by the Bureau in 
connection with the enforcement of the law. 

FACTORY INSPECTION. 

An increasingly important part of the Bureau of Chem- 
istry's regulatory work is its factory inspection. So far 
as its limited force of inspectors will permit, the Bureau 
endeavors to conduct a systematic investigation of plants 



16 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 

where foods and drugs shipped in interstate commerce 
are made. As a result of such work, it frequently becomes 
possible for the Government, through its technical staff, 
to offer various manufacturers constructive advice which 




Fig. 3 — Food and drug inspector examining butter. 

will enable them to remedy defects in their processes, 
thus improving the quality of their output and the effi- 
ciency of their operations, as well as bringing their goods 
into compliance with the law. 

TEA INSPECTION. 

In 1920, the Tea Inspection Service, formerly part of 
the United States Treasury Department, was transferred 
to the Department of Agriculture, upon the joint recom- 
mendation of the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Secretary of Agriculture. As no duty is imposed on tea, 
and as the Bureau of Chemistry, under the Food and 
Drugs Act, is charged with the examination of all 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 17 

imported foods and drugs, it was thought that the tea 
inspection work was more closely related to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture than to the Treasury Department. 

Tea is subject to the provisions of both the Food and 
Drugs Act and the Tea Inspection Act. While the 
Food and Drugs Act covers only adulteration or mis- 
branding, the Tea Act provides for a physical standard 
of quality as well as purity. 

The act to prevent the importation of impure or un- 
wholesome tea, commonly known as the Tea Act, which 
was passed by Congress in 1 897, and later amended, 
provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall appoint 
each year a board of seven tea experts who shall select 
standards for tea. Such standards are distributed among 
the officials enforcing the law, and may be bought at 
cost by the tea trade and others interested. 

It is the duty of the Supervising Tea Examiner, stationed 
in Washington, with the assistance of seven tea examiners 
and their assistants, stationed in various ports of entry, to 
see to it that no tea which falls below the standards 
fixed by the Secretary is permitted entry into the United 
States. 

The importer of any tea which is rejected is given 30 
days in which to appeal his case to the United States 
Board of Tea Appeals, composed of three employees of 
the Department of Agriculture, stationed in the city of 
New York. If the tea is rejected for quality, the Board 
of Tea Appeals summons witnesses from the trade, while 
if it is rejected for impurities the chemist's report, upon 
which the rejection was originally based, usually is 
accepted. No appeal may be made from the decision 
of the Board of Tea Appeals. 

The law allows the importer six months in which to 
remove his rejected tea from this country. If not outside 
the limits of the United States by that time, it must be 
destroyed. 

Tea waste, tea sittings, tea sweepings, and low-grade 
tea may be brought into the United States if they are to 
be used solely for technical manufacturing purposes. 



18 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 

The importer of such products, however, must give bond 
to the collector of customs that their identity will be 
destroyed in the process of manufacture. 

RESEARCH WORK. 

FOOD AND DRUG ANALYSIS. 

To ascertain accurately when a food or drug is adul- 
terated or misbranded, it is, of course, necessary to have 
suitable standards for comparison. Before the analyst 
can pass intelligently upon the samples submitted to him 
for examination, he must know the true composition of 
the articles which they purport to be. Consequently, 
a large part of the scientific force of the Bureau of Chem- 
istry is engaged in the investigation of many natural 
products. Based upon the results thus obtained, the 
Department formulates definite standards for the guid- 
ance of the food and drug officials of the country and the 
manufacturers. 

To illustrate, it was found that spices were being 
grossly adulterated and misbranded, and that it was 
difficult to determine when to prosecute cases involving 
such products. Accordingly, all the spices in common 
use have been studied physically, chemically, and micro- 
scopically. Using the results of this study as a foundation, 
fair standards for spices have been determined and pub- 
lished to serve as a basis for action in the enforcement of 
the law. 

Such standards are published in Office of the Secre- 
tary Circular 1 36. New and tentative standards and 
informal opinions are made public through the Service 
and Regulatory Announcements of the Bureau. 

INVESTIGATION OF COMMERCIAL METHODS. 

To supplement this first type of research work, inves- 
tigations are undertaken to perfect various processes used 
in the preparation of foods and drugs and to devise 
methods for the utilization of by-products hitherto 
wasted. 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 19 

Much has been accomplished along this line in con- 
nection with the preparation of poultry and eggs for the 
market and their handling during storage and transpor- 
tation. The results obtained have fully justified the 
Bureau's belief that some changes in methods and a care- 
ful attention to detail would add to the producer's profits, 
at the same time augmenting the country's food supply. 

Extended studies also have been conducted to deter- 
mine how certain fish, such as the sardine, might be 
packed to best advantage, and the by-products of the 
canneries salvaged. 

Of great economic importance to the American fruit 
grower is the Bureau's project for working out ways to 
manufacture salable articles from the cull grapefruit, 
oranges, and lemons which too often constitute a 
total loss. To bring this about, methods are being de- 
vised whereby such culls may be converted into bev- 
erages, jam, marmalade, etc., for which a ready market 
exists. 

INVESTIGATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 

Along with the research work which is done in con- 
nection with the enforcement of the Food and Drugs 
Act go the investigations in the realm of agricultural 
chemistry that constituted the sole original function of the 
Bureau. The needs of the farmer still occupy an im- 
portant place in this branch of the Federal service. 

For example, the chemistry of plant growth is con- 
sidered for the purpose of determining the effect of 
recognized plant food constituents and of the inorganic 
elements applied at different stages of the growth, as well 
as the effect of light, on the composition and physical 
characteristics of plants. The changes taking place 
during the growing period as the result of any particular 
treatment are investigated also. 

The tanning of leather in its various aspects is studied, 
that the farmer may receive satisfactory instructions for 
preparing hides and for selecting with discrimination 
and intelligently caring for the leather which he uses for 



20 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 




FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 21 

boots, harness, or belting. Instructions for the cheap and 
effective waterproofing and mildewproofing of fabrics for 
wagon covers, stack covers, tents, and tarpaulins have 
been published. 

Under way also is a scheme for showing the farmer 
how he may utilize as stock food cull potatoes and other 
waste products of his land. It is thought that certain 
plants not now so employed may prove valuable as stock 
food. A study of the proteins which they contain is 
being made to see whether this can be done. 

As soon as it became evident that fires and explosions 
in thrashers and in grain elevators and mills might be 
due to the accumulation, under certain conditions, of 
grain dusts, the Bureau launched its grain-dust-explosion- 
prevention campaign for the benefit of the farmer, the 
thrasher, and the miller. The causes of such fires and 
explosions have been studied and the results made public. 
Preventive devices have been perfected and tested, and 
owners and operators of thrashing machines, mills, and 
grain elevators told how to install devices and adopt 
simple precautionary measures which should go a long 
way toward safeguarding their property. 

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER DEPART- 
MENTS. 

Because of the Bureau s fitness, in the matter of both 
personnel and equipment, for conducting chemical, 
microscopical, and microbiological examinations, many 
of the other Government departments and bureaus have 
acquired the habit of turning over to it certain parts of 
various problems coming within their jurisdiction. 

For example, the Post Office Department submits 
for analysis samples of drugs, cosmetics, depilatories, 
"fat producers," "fat reducers," food suspected of con- 
taining poisons, and other material going through the 
United States mails which is believed to be fraudulent or 
harmful. The Treasury Department enlists the aid of 
the Bureau of Chemistry in devising currency paper 
which is difficult to counterfeit and at the same time is as 



22 FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 

serviceable as possible. Many samples of foodstuffs 
and other supplies for the Army are submitted by the 
office of the Quartermaster General of the Department 
of War for analysis by the Bureau. 

Added to these duties are the working out of new 
analytical methods and the perfecting of old ones, upon 
which the Bureau is constantly engaged. These results 
are published from time to time, that they may be of 
service to commercial and Government chemists alike. 

COLOR INVESTIGATIONS. 

Color research work was begun many years ago 
in the Bureau of Chemistry, for the reason that various 
types of dye materials are agricultural products and also 
because the largest users of dyes are the industries utilizing 
raw agricultural materials. Moreover, the Bureau has 
been called upon to study very extensively the artificial 
(coal-tar) dyes, on account of their wide use to color 
food products. 

When, therefore, shortly after the outbreak of the 
recent Great War, Congress thought it advisable for the 
Government to assist in the development of a domestic 
dye industry, the experience thus gained by the Bureau 
of Chemistry made it particularly well equipped to 
undertake the work. 

The color laboratory considers chiefly the fundamental 
principles that underlie the mechanism of the reactions 
which enter into the production of dyes, and determines 
the chemical and physical constants of the materials 
used in the industry. The factory chemist rarely has 
time to devote to this type of work, and, when he is in a 
position to carry it on, keeps secret the results which he 
obtains. The findings of the Government, on the other 
hand, are made public as rapidly as possible, for the 
advancement of the entire American dye industry. 



FEDERAL BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 23 

OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT WORK. 

The practical application in the industries and in the 
arts of the results of scientific research is quite apart from 
the actual carrying out of an investigation. That the 
industrial world may have the full benefit of all such 
results obtained in the Bureau of Chemistry, an office 
has been established to serve as the connecting link be- 
tween the Government and the manufacturer or other 
interested person. This office, known as the Office of 
Development Work, assumes charge of the results of any 
given fundamental project of the Bureau as soon as it 
reaches the stage where it gives promise of being ready 
for industrial development. The Office of Develop- 
ment Work, of course, handles only discoveries made in 
the Bureau of Chemistry. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

Reports of the results of the Bureau's work are issued 
from time to time. Some take the form of Department 
of Agriculture bulletins or circulars, a list of which may 
be had on application to the Bureau, while others, 
which, it is believed, will be of interest chiefly to some 
particular class of readers or to a certain industry, ap- 
pear in the scientific and trade journals of the country. 



WASHINGTON . GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1920 



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